SLAT-CESL Visiting Scholars Certificate Program

About the SLAT-CESL Visiting Scholars Certificate Program

This program is designed for Visiting Scholars to SLAT or CESL who wish to perfect their English, teaching and research skills in order to make the most of their time as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Arizona. Scholars enrolled in this program will take English tutoring and a teacher-training practicum. Scholars will also participate in self-paced online workshops through SLAT about using technology for teaching, as well as having group meetings about research approaches. Scholars who successfully complete the program receive a Certificate of Achievement from SLAT and CESL.

In addition, all scholars enjoy the many rich opportunities available to visiting scholars, including auditing courses and participating in colloquia, to collaborating on research, sharing research findings, and participating in a vibrant educational and research institution.

Participating scholars receive two SLAT modules, meetings with research mentors, 10 hours of CESL tutoring and 20 hours of a CESL teaching practicum.

Please note that in some cases, scholars may be requested to take a more intensive English component. The applying scholar will be contacted with details should this be the case.

CESL offers individual tutoring packages focused on a variety of skills, including: grammar, pronunciation, speaking, listening, reading, writing, presentation skills, Business English and American Culture. Tutoring packages are taught by skilled CESL teachers and include a textbook. The specific goals of each tutoring package are tailored to the needs of the individual student.

CESL’s Teaching Practicum

This 20-hour practicum combines classroom observation, meetings with a mentor teacher, and 3 hours of in-class practice teaching to help teachers hone their skills. This is a great chance for new teachers to experience teaching first-hand under the guidance of an experienced teacher, and it is also a good opportunity for experienced teachers to refine their teaching in a certain area.

SLAT’s Teaching Modules

We selected various modules produced by COERLL, a Language Resource Center at the University of Texas at Austin similar to CERCLL here at the University of Arizona as well as by other organizations, to support your development as a language teacher. The modules are organized in a way that will make your learning experience more seamless. You will be completing these modules over the time you are at the University of Arizona. You will have the opportunity to apply what you have learned in targeted portfolio activities. You will have a tutor who will be available to answer any questions you may have about the modules and review with you the portfolio activities that you created. You will create the portfolio activities in Google Doc so that they can be linked easily into the teaching e-portfolio that you will build at the end. We hope that you will find this to be a meaningful experience. The modules included are:

Introduction

Teaching the Language Modalities

Focus on Language

Enhancing Language Teaching and Learning

Research Literacy for Language Teachers

Action Research: Conducting Research in your Classroom

My E-Portfolio

Funding

Unfortunately, we are currently unable to offer any funding, housing, or office support for the scholars. The scholar (or scholar's sponsor) is responisble for paying all associated costs including passport, visa, travel, insurance, tuition, fees, living and research expenses, CatCard, and any other incidentals. Please see the CESL costs page for information about Tucson costs. Visiting Scholars may apply, pay tution and fees and enroll in a CESL or UA class with approval of the instructor.

2. If accepted into the certificate program, the scholar must then submit a full Visiting Scholar Certificate Program application, available here. The tuition and fees outlined above must be paid. In addition, various support documents are required. These are outlined in the application. Please read the instructions and details carefully.